Farmers can reduce their accounting bills by coming prepared, streamlining records and choosing the right accountant, farm family coach Alyssa Brown writes.
Farm Life
Save on your farm accounting fees
Farm Family Coach: Practical tips for farmers to make meetings with accountants more efficient and avoid unnecessary costs
Simple ways to relieve tension
Fit to Farm: Expectations of stress tee up the body’s tension response — which then sometimes sticks around longer than we need
Farmers and farm workers will often feel tension in their muscles, whether it’s from physical exertion, stress, or even changes in the weather — and treatment of tension can start simple at home.
It’s chicken day
First We Eat: If it’s from a good farmer, a whole direct-sale bird is worth that extra bit of cost
This issue’s recipe: honey lemon chicken. Chicken Day means getting whole processed birds from a local farmer, getting them home in coolers, cutting each up for bagging and freezing, then stripping the carcasses for stock and pet food.
Seasons change, fluids retain
Fit to Farm: Unlike blood, your lymphatic fluids could use your help to overcome gravity
Most of us experience a bit of extra fluid retention occasionally, as “puffiness” in our lower bodies, when weather changes. Gravity naturally keeps lymph fluid down, but gentle movement can help keep it flowing properly.
Increase farm productivity by being intentional about time
Farm Family Coach: Even if we hate making hard plans, we should work with clarity about what we want and need
What if, instead of — ugh — “planning,” we set intentions for the given time we spend in our farm operations, then held ourselves accountable to create more meaningful ways of showing up?
Summer brings a cherry jubilee
First We Eat: Direct off the tree or baked into desserts, the fruit is rich in both flavour and nutrients
Seeing this year’s fresh Okanagan cherries being unpacked at the local farmers’ market, in the wake of a disastrous 2024 growing season in that region of British Columbia, was a magical moment.
Prepare your farm family for the storm before it happens
Farm Family Coach: Look for ways to strengthen resilience in peaceful times
The trust-building work done during calm days can help a farm team create a strong and united front, ensuring that when the inevitable challenges arise, we are ready to face them together.
When pain literally gets on your nerves
Fit to Farm: This kind of pain gets around within the body, so just treating the local area won’t solve the problem
All pain links back to our nerves, but our nerves themselves can also become irritated due to inflammation, immune system activation, physical or emotional trauma and/or fatigue.
Mastering communication is a work in perpetual progress
Farm Family Coach: The farming environment can be rich with opportunity for skill development
While it can get lost in the day-to-day, communication between farm family members can come with high stakes. Errors in family relations could be just as costly as running a sprayer boom into a power pole.
Stock can be the stock answer for a healthy diet in recovery
First We Eat: These simple combinations of ingredients come bearing highly nutritional benefits
Stock is the foundation of many restorative dishes. In folk medicine that recognizes the healing value of food, this is old news.
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
